Game Preview: Ottawa Senators @ Anaheim Ducks
Saturday January 21, 2012
4:00 pm
SNET-E, Team 1200
4th East (27-26-6) @ 13th West (16-22-7)
The Senators take on the Anaheim Ducks for the first and only meeting of the season. The Sens are in the middle of a six game road trip that includes the California swing. The Sens pulled off an impressive win against San Jose Thursday, despite being greatly outplayed early on. There were some losses in the win however as both Zack Smith and Kaspars Daugavins suffered night-ending injuries in the second period, and there were close calls on Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris in the third. Fortunately it appears all are well and should be available to play today.
That would mean Da Costa, who was called up last night as a precaution, will likely not be needed. Same goes for Petersson who was called up along with Borowiecki earlier in the week, though unlike Da Costa, Bryan Murray stated that both Petersson and Borowiecki would get to play at some point during the five game trip. Borowiecki already has, making his NHL debut in Thursday’s win over the Sharks.
UPDATE: Per Ian Mendes there will be two line-up changes from Thursday’s game. First, Carkner will come back into the line-up in exchange for Borowiecki. Secondly, André Petersson will be making his National Hockey League debut. In his first AHL season this year he has 25 points in 30 games, and is second on the B-Sens in scoring. Bobby Butler will be the one sitting to make room for Petersson.
As everyone keeps saying, the Senators have been one of the greater surprises this season and it has been a good surprise for Sens fans who watched their team go 8-1-1 to start the new year. They only have two regulation losses in their last 17 games.
Anaheim had a disappointing start to the season finding themselves bottom in the West but unfortunately for the Sens they’ve been picking it up going 6-1-1 in January. A lot has been the play of Jonas Hiller who has only surrendered 7 goals in his past 6 starts. He has been helped by a solid offense who has scored 4 or more goals in six of their past seven games.
Look for a match-up of Craig Anderson vs. Jonas Hiller in goal.
Players To Watch:
OTT – Kyle Turris: Turris has been impressive in his short career as a Senator racking up 13 points in his 16 games. That goes along with a nice plus-13. He has 4 points (2-2) in the last 2 games, including the game winner against Toronto.
ANA – Jason Blake: Blake has accumulated 8 points in his 11 games since returning from an injury. That includes 6 points (4-2) in his last 3 games.
Check back here after the game for SenShot’s full game recap. Enjoy the game and GO SENS GO!
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